May 20th, 2011

Get Grillin’ This Memorial Day

Can you believe Memorial Day is almost upon us? It’s one of the Holy Grails of grilling holidays.

Are you ready?

Well, there’s a sale on what I believe are the best meats around. Steaks, steaks for sandwiches, steaks for making fajitas, steak meat for skewers, steakburgers – you name it!

Check it out here and get ordering for Memorial Day. It’ll be here before we know it!

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait. I could use at least a day to focus on grilling, relaxing and enjoying my family. There’s always too much blowing and going.

I’m ready for some laying around. How ’bout you?

I just don’t want to forget the most important part – the food!!!

Photo courtesy of Kansas City Steak Company.


July 4th, 2009

Recipe! Lemongrass Ground Beef Skewers

Happy, happy 4th of July to you!

My gift to you in celebration of this day is the gift of food. Well, a recipe, actually.

lemongrassskewers

And I am loving this recipe! It’s a kaboby-meatballish combo (if you ask me) and I LOVE that it uses ground beef.

The light lemongrass is perfect for hot, hot July weather, too!

Enjoy it under the firecrackers tonight!!!!!!!!!!!

Lemongrass Ground Beef Skewers

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped lemon grass
  • 1 onion, coarsely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil the grate.
  2. Place lemon grass, onion, and garlic in the container of an electric blender or food processor. Cover and blend or process until finely chopped, about 10 seconds. Scrape lemon grass mixture into a bowl, and stir in beef, salt, pepper, sugar, cornstarch, oyster sauce, and sesame oil.
  3. Form meat mixture into 12 meatballs. Thread onto skewers.
  4. Cook on the preheated grill until the meatballs are well done, about 7 minutes per side. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

Recipe and photo courtesy of allrecipes.com.


January 23rd, 2009

Here We Go Kabob-ing

Kabobs are fantastic as a meal or even appetizers.

readykabobs

At our huge family shindig we set them out and let the people decide.

Kinda like a democracy. But not.

Here are Sandy’s thoughts on creating the perfect kabobs. We used tenderloin tips that were so, so tender. Pay close attention to Sandy’s tip about soaking the wooden skewers. Advice worth its weight in gold!

Tenderloin Kabobs

One of the ways to save money while you are eating great is to maximize your usage of your groceries.  Although perhaps an obvious point, take it to the extreme.  Buy a great cut of meat like a whole tenderloin.  To insure even cooking, you will want the piece to be symmetrical, which because it is a natural product, means you will have to trim off the ‘tail’ end.  And if you have access to a wholesale tenderloin, you will also trim the ‘chain’ meat.  What to do with all of these trimmings?  Have a great ‘second’ meal with your delicious meat – make kabobs!  Kabob-ing also stretches your budget by adding lower cost items (veggies) and decreasing the portion size of the meat. 

Kabobs also work with less tender cuts of meat, but you will have to marinate the meat overnight to make it tender.  Kabobs made with tenderloin tips are quick and easy to put together, and any marinating should be brief and just to enhance flavor.  An important tip if you are using wooden skewers – SOAK them for about ½ hour in water before you skewer anything with them – lay them in a 9×13 pan and just cover with water before you start prepping anything else.  If you don’t soak them, they will burn and disintegrate on the grill and all of your subsequent work will be wasted – still tasty, but not so pretty.

Tenderloin Kabobs

For 4 People

1# Tenderloin Tips or Sirloin

Vegetables, including sweet onion, garlic cloves, multi-colored bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini or corn on the cob would also be tasty and pretty. Also possible would be par cooked root vegetables, such as red potatoes or carrots.

veggies

Cut the meat into about 1 in chunks.  Season the meat well with salt, pepper, garlic and/or onion powder or your favorite steak seasoning.  Cut the vegetables into appropriate sized chunks, probably a little larger than the meat.  If you are using red potatoes or carrots, cook them briefly in boiling water until they can be just pierced with the sharp tip of a knife.  Toss all of your vegetables in a large bowl with a few tablespoons of oil, olive or your favorite, and season well with your favorite seasonings.  There is no rule for how to skewer the shish kabobs, but variety is always pretty.  Even people who may not eat the red peppers or onions still may appreciate how they look on the skewer and how they season the meat as it all cooks together. 

kabobstogrill2

Cook the skewers over a medium high grill until they reach your level of desired doneness.

grillinandchillin

Serve with a rice pilaf.

If you care to marinate the meat, here is a quick recipe:

1 cup red wine

½ cup fresh herbs

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1-3 cloves fresh chopped garlic (1-2 tsp)

Freshly ground pepper

Combine the ingredients, and pour into quart sized zip bag. Add meat, seal and remove air and refrigerate up to 2 hours, turning every 20 minutes.


Archives